Trader Talk

Busy next week with Fed meeting in focus

Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Scott Eells | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Considering it's close to Christmas, next week will be busy. While everyone knows about the Fed meeting Wednesday, there is considerable interest in the Federal Reserve's very large Permanent Open Market Operation (POMO) operation on Thursday...the Fed typically conducts bond-buying operations every day, but the size is usually $1 to $3 billion. On Thursday, it is $6 to $7.5 billion; many believe that it is no coincidence it is the day after the Fed meeting. There is no POMO on Wednesday, however.

The Senate vote on Janet Yellen as the new Fed chief will be next week, date to be determined.

Tuesday: Senate begins debate on budget deal

Wednesday: Fed announcement with press conference

Thursday: Huge Fed POMO; $6 billion to $7.5 billion over two operations

Friday: Quadruple witching expiration (quarterly expiration of individual stock and index futures options), S&P 500 quarterly rebalancing (Facebook, Alliance Data Systems, and Mohawk Industries to go into S&P 500), and Nasdaq 100 annual rebalancing


By CNBC's Bob Pisani